If there are scratches, (as in, large scratches or many, many, many small ones) there’s a good chance the disk is unreadable, and you’ll have to get a new one. After cleaning and confirming there’s not much damage, try to read the disc again.

If a DVD drive refuses to read CDs but will read DVDs, or vice versa, the mostly likely cause is that one of the two read lasers has failed. Replace the drive. If an optical writer fails while burning the first disc of a new type of disc or a . . . Read more

Verify that the optical drive is recognized in Device Manager. … Update or reinstall the driver for the optical drive. Uninstall and reinstall the Dell provided playback software (DVD or Blu-ray movie playback issues) Perform a Windows System Restore.

DVD-R are of considerably lower quality, where the worst ones can go bad within 5–10 years, and the better ones can last a good 15–20 years.

To quickly and easily clean a DVD, place the disc label-down on a soft cloth, and spray the disc with isopropyl alcohol. Use a microfiber cloth to wipe the alcohol over the surface of the disc in straight lines until it is completely coated with the alcohol.

Do they wear out? Answer: Few things changed our digital lives like CDs and DVDs, especially when it became affordable to make our own discs. They don’t "wear out" in the same way a cassette tape or vinyl record used to wear out because there is no physical contact with . . . Read more

According to a recent report from PricewaterhouseCoopers, this year streaming revenues will surpass DVD sales for the first time, and you better believe Hollywood is following the money. … If DVDs would’ve lasted as long as VHS, we’d still be lousy with discs until 2024 at least.

Water contact will not ruin a CD/DVD but vapor might. It just depends on how long the CD/DVD has been exposed. If you are worried, then you should copy the disc asap.

Wipe across the disc rather than in a circular motion, which can cause microscratches and damage the data stored on the disc. If that doesn’t do the job, dampen the cloth with a gentle soap-and-water solution and rewipe. Never use household cleaners, abrasives or solvents on CDs or DVDs.

Realistically not unless you are into repairing electronics as the cost to repair one could be as low as like 10$ for parts or as much as 40$. But the time you would spend doing it unless it is something super simple just wouldn’t make it worth doing.